Tony Stewart got back to his happy place on Tuesday, in more ways than one.Stewart, who grew up in Rushville, Indiana, and owns a ranch near Columbus, spent much of the day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the track that captivated him as a boy and ultimately motivated him to be a champion racer of both stock cars and Indy cars.The prospect of going to IMS perks up Stewart anytime, even if it means doing hours of media and promotion for the 23rd annual Brickyard 400, set for July 24. But IMS president Doug Boles had a trick up his sleeve this time to make a working day more pleasant: He and the IMS team conceived and built a temporary 3/16-mile dirt track inside Turn 3 of the IMS oval and brought out a handful of USAC Midget cars and drivers for hot laps.Talk about Stewarts happy place.Im addicted, he admitted. As soon as I saw it, I thought, Well, Im going to need to run a couple laps. I knew it was a possibility but I didnt know for sure. I had stuff [a drivers suit and helmet] with me. The worst thing you can do is drop me in the middle of a racetrack ... of course Im going to drive.Theyve been sending me pictures and videos of the progress since Day 1, Stewart added. So Ive been looking forward to this day. Its pretty impressive to be able to do something like this in such a short amount of time.Stewart had actually been talking to Boles on and off for the past three years, having what-if conversations about the possibility of a short track on the IMS grounds. With the popular local driver having announced his retirement at the end of the season from full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, the opportunity was there for IMS to give the Hoosier native a unique parting gift hes not likely to forget anytime soon.Every year we talk and he said, We could do pavement and it would be fun, but man, you need a dirt track, Boles related. It was a pretty easy decision for us. Tony has meant a lot to the Speedway, not only because hes been able to run both of our big events, but as much as anything because he grew up here. He is pretty vocal in saying that this is his favorite race track and the place hes always wanted to win.So we wanted to have some fun with Tony and our friends at USAC helped us lay this out, he added. This is temporary, but if it makes sense, there may be a day that you see something like this here for special events at the Speedway.For Stewart, it was an opportunity to reconnect with his short track roots in a low-key environment out of the public spotlight.Following the trail blazed by Jeff Gordon a few years earlier, Stewart blitzed the USAC championship trail in the early 1990s, becoming the first driver to win all three Triple Crown championships (Midget, Silver Crown and Sprint) in the same season in 1995. He parlayed that into championship success in the Indy Racing League before switching disciplines to stock car racing in 1999.Now 45, Stewart has become one of NASCARs top stars, winning the Cup series championship three times (2002, 05 and 11) as well as nearly every important stock car race with the exception of the Daytona 500. Hes also a successful team owner, both at the USAC level as well as the co-owner of the Stewart-Haas Racing Cup team that he drives for.But in recent years, he has grown tired of the demands of a modern NASCAR driver. He expressed his unhappiness as recently as two weeks ago, just prior to the surprise victory at Sonoma Raceway that should land him in this years Chase for the Sprint Cup.He has made it clear that even though he is retiring from the Cup series, he clearly still wants to compete somewhere.He always continued to run Sprint and Midget cars on the side throughout his IRL and NASCAR career, and despite a pair of life-altering sprint car accidents in 2013 (when he broke his right leg in an accident at Southern Iowa Speedway) and 2014 (when his car fatally struck driver Kevin Ward Jr. at Canandaigua Motorsports Park, resulting in a lawsuit that remains unsettled), his love for grass-roots racing remains intact.Fallout from the Ward accident, as well as a sand buggy accident in January in which he sustained a broken back, has kept Stewart out of his beloved dirt track cars for nearly two years. Thats why it was such a treat for him to turn laps on the dirt at IMS in a Midget prepared by his old car owner, Keith Kunz.The smile on his face when he stepped out of the No. 71 car normally driven by Carson Macedo said it all. Stewart lapped with former USAC and Indy car driver Sarah Fisher and multiple USAC titleholder Bryan Clauson, running three-wide at one point on the narrow, flat oval.That was fun -- a good time, he exclaimed. It brought back a lot of memories. I havent been in a midget for 2? years and I miss it. The tough part is I dont fit this car very well. These drivers are much smaller than I am. It was great to get back in a Keith Kunz car and I guarantee you it would be fun to do this more often. Bryan was getting around there pretty good.This is the ultimate, he added. We all wish we had this in our backyard to go play. Only six more months and I get to play in these all I want.Stewart remains a staunch supporter of the USAC trail, whether a driver wants to pursue stock cars or Indy cars as a career goal.If you can control a car on a track like this, thats the kind of car control you need to race an Indy car or a stock car around the speedway, he said. The skills that these guys learn and pick up at an early age running these type of cars go a long way.But its hard to get here. I hit the lottery; I got lucky getting my opportunity to come here. Theres a lot of drivers that deserve the chance to come race at Indy and they have the talent to do it.Stewart never accomplished his original goal of winning the Indianapolis 500; his best finish was fifth in 1997. Even though he never got to drink the traditional winners milk, a pair of Brickyard 400 victories (2005 and 07) served as a fair consolation prize.On Tuesday, Boles presented Stewart with a commemorative IMS milk bottle -- filled with dirt from Smokes Turn 3 playground.I dont know if it will taste that good, Stewart quipped. But thats as close as Im going to get to drinking milk. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set. Wholesale Authentic NFL Jerseys From China . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. http://www.authenticnflwholesalejerseys.com/ . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Nike NFL Jerseys China . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. China Stitched Jerseys . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services.As the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks prepare for their Stanley Cup battle, the race for who will be named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner is also heating up. How each teams top players perform in the championship series will go a long way to determining the winner. So, who do you think will be named the playoff MVP? Through three rounds, many players have thrust themselves into the forefront of the Conn Smythe discussion and this post-season it all starts with the goaltenders. Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask has been the most consistent player for the Bruins in beating the Maple Leafs, Rangers, and Penguins. He leads the league in save percentage, highlighted by his performance in Bostons Conference Final sweep of Pittsburgh where he held the entire Penguins offence to just two goals in four games. His performance has drawn raves from his coach, Claude Julien, who likens his performance thus far to his former crease-mate, 2011 Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas. "A lot of Timmys commitment and desire to be the best he could be every night has rubbed off on Tuukka," Julien said after the Bruins Game 4 victory over Pittsburgh. "Tuukkas learned from that and right now hes in the zone that you hope he can hold on to because without that kind of goaltending you dont get a chance to win the Cup." As much as Rask has been getting a great deal of credit for the Bruins success, Blackhawks keeper Corey Crawford has quietly provided his own club with excellent goaltending. He leads the league in goals-against-average and has held his own against formidable one-time Cup-winning opponents likke Detroits Jimmy Howard and Los Angeles Jonathan Quick.dddddddddddd "He deserves all the credit in the world and then some," said Hawks captain Jonathan Toews after the teams Game 5 overtime victory to close out the Kings. "Hes persevered and here he is playing the best hockey of his career and helping his team compete for a Stanley Cup. "Hes probably the most important player on our team right now," Toews added. But its not all on the goalies. The Bruins are considered one of the better four-line teams in the playoffs but David Krejci has had no equal when it comes to providing offence for the Bruins. He leads the playoffs with nine goals and 21 points. While the Blackhawks have leaned on the talents of Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, Bryan Bickell has arguably been their most consistent performer. Recently elevated to the top line with Toews and Kane, Bickell has provided a good balance of size, speed and finesse while scoring some clutch goals. If the Bruins are to claim their second Stanley Cup title in three years, Zdeno Chara will be a key factor. He logs major minutes, anchors the power play, shuts down the oppositions best players and provides leadership in the dressing room. Not everything shows up on the stats sheet but his importance cannot be overlooked. These are just a few of the leading candidates but other players could rise above the rest in the Stanley Cup Final to earn playoff MVP honours. Who do you think will be named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy? As always, its Your! Call. ' ' '